Penn High School's Exceptional Education held their annual Halloween Fall Ball on Friday, November 2 at Schmucker Middle School.

Students from Penn & P-H-M's Young Adult program attended, but also Ex Ed students from Mishawaka High School and Elkhart Memorial High School. Penn's Peer Mentors danced & had fun with their friends; Penn's Art Club made art selfie cutouts; Penn Ex Ed Academy staff & P-H-M administrators also joined in on the fun!

Enjoy the photo gallery below.

Penn High School Ceramics Instructor Becky Brown put on a pair of orange welder’s gloves that reached up to her elbow. She then opened the door of a kiln that cooled off from a fiery temperature of more than 2,000 degrees, and took out shining bowls that beamed a dazzling array of reds, oranges, greens, blues and yellows.

Brown and her Ceramics students, along with the Penn Art Club, crafted nearly 160 bowls for the Empty Bowls Project, a fundraiser to fight hunger. A Charity Dinner was held on Friday, Nov. 2, at the Mishawaka Food Pantry (315 Lincolnway West, Mishawaka). Soup and bread from local restaurants was served to patrons, who then chose their favorite food-safe ceramic bowl crafted by a Penn student to take home.

This is the 10th year Penn has made bowls to help with a charity dinner dedicated to fighting hunger.

The Parrot Heads of Michiana, working with Penn students and area restaurants, raised several thousand dollars each year to benefit the Senior Nutrition Program of REAL Services in the past. This year’s event benefited the Mishawaka Food Pantry.

After a four-year hiatus, the event was re-started.

“It became difficult to find places to hold the event, so it was canceled for a few years,” Brown said. “It was sad to see it come to an end several years ago, so when I got email late September to see if I could help again, I decided to find a way to make it work, even though my students had already made their bowls (for a class assignment).

“Some of the students volunteered to give up their bowl, while others came it on their own time to make another bowl or two,” Brown continued. “We still needed more bowls, so I asked (Penn Art Instructor) Becky Hope if her art club students could help.”

For the next two weeks, Penn students came in after school or during their study halls to make enough bowls for the event.

“The empty bowl is to remind people when they leave, there are people in the community who don't always have food to fill their bowls,” Brown said. “I hope we have a great turn out this year because I look forward to continuing this important charity event again next year.”

Brown said that she appreciates the opportunity to blend a learning activity with service to the community.

“This helps students learn to give back to the community and that they came make a difference in someone's life who is in the need of help,” Brown said.

Penn High School STEM Academy students participated in the fifth annual Manufacturing Day in South Bend experience in October.

The event provided area high school students an opportunity to tour various local manufacturers and meet with current employees to discuss careers in the field.

“Manufacturing Day is a valuable experience for our students to see what manufacturing in the 21st Century looks like and opportunities in our area,” Penn High School Assistant Principal Josiah Parker said. “Students were able to visit the new SF Motors as they prepare to begin production of the new electric car. Students from Penn also visited South Bend Modern Molding, Allied Specialty Precision, B&B Molders, Ivy Tech, Daman Products, and Complexus Medical.”

The Penn Girls Basketball Team defeated LaPorte, 46-35, in its season opener on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School’s Spell Bowl Team, coached by Kate O’Brien, qualified for the 2018 State Championships by scoring an 82 at the Plymouth Regional on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Penn will compete for a State Championship on Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Loeb Playhouse on the University of Purdue campus. Competition is set to begin at 10:45 a.m.

Manaal Arif, Deena Baki, Yewon Oh, Abbie Hembrecht and JR Roach spelled perfectly for the Kingsmen in the Plymouth Regional. Oumayma Al-Shamary Erika Kalamaros, Matthew Zheng turned in near perfect efforts.

“I am so proud of all this team has accomplished!” O’Brien said. “They have dedicated hours and hours of practice time, and I am so excited with how it's paid for them!

“Spelling 82 out of 90 words is an impressive feat, and we beat our team goal of 80 (at state)!” O’Brien continued. “We are thrilled to be competing for state again, and are hopeful to bring home a State Title!”

When Indiana’s election takes place Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, Penn will serve as a polling center, as it has in years past. Polling hours are 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Penn school hours are 8:25 a.m. – 3:17 p.m.; you might want to avoid student arrival and departure times because of increased traffic congestion. 

Door L and Door M on Jefferson Road will be open to the public to access for voting. The first row of parking spaces in the staff lot between Doors L and M will be available for public parking. Voters must enter and exit through Doors L or M. Voters will not be allowed passage into the students’ area.

Other P-H-M schools that will serve as voting locations Election Day are Mary Frank Elementary School, Meadow’s Edge Elementary School, Prairie Vista Elementary School, Walt Disney Elementary School and Schmucker Middle School. Of course registered voters may only use the polling location that serves their precinct, based on home address.  Here is a link to the precincts maps and polling location information provided by St. Joseph County. 

The Penn Girls Volleyball Team battled No. 1 Yorktown in the Class 6-A Semi-state at Huntington North High School on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Yorktown defeated Penn, 27-25, 26-24, 25-16.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn’s Football Team defeated Warsaw, 16-7, in Class 6-A Sectional action on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher and Director of Counseling John Westra announced that 10 Penn students have been named National Merit Scholarship Commended Scholars.

Ammaar Basher, Ella Boardley, Michael Cha, Micah Focht, Noah Reynolds, Ioannis Samoilis, Carly Scopel, Jacqueline Sekan, Zachary Simon and Alvin Wang earned the elite academic distinction. The top three percent of students who took the PSAT nationwide earned Commended Scholars status.

“This accomplishment reflects the collective efforts of each student, their teachers and family,” Galiher said. “Our teachers take great pride in challenging our students and preparing them through rigorous and relevant coursework." 

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. 

Of the 1.6 million entrants in the 63rd annual competition, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

Penn High School AP History Instructors Dominic Ball and Patrick Barrier conducted a “Rocktoberfest” learning activity that centered on the significant social, political, cultural and historical moments of the 1980’s. Students produced videos of 1980’s newscasts, performed popular songs from the period, and gave speeches on key political or social issues during the event, which was held on Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Thursday, Oct. 25.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.